Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
[the following is a guest post by Rob Dunn] A few weeks ago I went to elementary school in Italy. I had been asked to visit one of the schools where professors at the University of Parma have been working with children to study ants. There were three of us on the expedition. The other [...]
If you look closely when opening large ant nests in the northern hemisphere temperate zone, there is a good chance you’ll see ant crickets. These flattened, wingless insects are kleptoparasites living among ant colonies, stealing food and tricking the ants into feeding them. The common species where we live in the midwest is the eastern [...]
All this talk about copyright infringement is a real downer. It’s time to perk things up with pretty ants:
My photographic project this evening was to capture one of the more endearing behaviors (or annoying behaviors, I suppose, for all you haters out there) of hungry ticks. The arachnids crawl to a high point- say, a blade of grass- and wave their legs about hoping to snare a tasty mammal. The habit is called [...]
For those of you who dislike spiders, I’d like to introduce you to your new favorite friend: The genus Pison refers to a small group of crabronid wasps containing about 200 species worldwide. These insects raise their young on a diet of living, but paralyzed, spiders. Paralyzed spiders don’t decay, staying fresh while the wasp [...]
Among the more conspicuous insects we encountered during our Australian travels were Paropsisterna eucalyptus leaf beetles. Most trees I looked at in southern Australia hosted clusters of pudgy yellow larvae hanging around in plain view, munching on the aromatic leaves in happy abandon. The beetles have good reason to be seen: they are toxic. Unusually among [...]
With the accelerated spring this year we’re taking the good with the bad. My first mozzie bite of the year comes from Anopheles punctipennis (identified by Mrs. Myrmecos, who knows about these things): photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 7D ISO 200, f/13, 1/250 sec, diffuse twin flash
It’s a balmy 75º here in Champaign-Urbana, the warmest day this year. The winged Prenolepis reproductives that have been waiting patiently for spring have decided today is the day, and all over town the little ants are erupting from their underground empires to mingle and mate. Our front yard has become an ant orgy! Here are [...]
Mid-February and central Illinois should be buried in snow. Instead, we’ve averaged 4-6 degrees above normal all winter. The crocuses are blooming, the daffodils are pushing up through the mud, and our resident Tapinoma are already raising up their first brood. Bizarre. Here are some photos from just now.
The following is a guest post by Rob Dunn, with photos by his graduate school office mate Piotr Naskrecki, AKA Piotr the Great. This post is also cross-posted at the new and improved yourwildlife.org, the hub for the Dunn Lab and collaborators’ citizen science program. I have to be quiet so they don’t hear me. [...]
A personal weblog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Myrmecos- derived from the ancient greek word for "ant"- hosts Alex's musings about these and other little creatures that share our planet.
Questions? Comments? Email alwild [at] myrmecos.net
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